THG 

UNIY6RS1TY  Of  CALIFORNIA 
LIBRARY 

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!    I 


WESTERN  CLASSICS 
N°  THREE 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 


Both  were  fearless  types  of  a  civiliza 
tion  that  in  the  seventeenth  century 
would  have  been  called  heroic,  but 
in  the  nineteenth  simply  'reckless.' 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 
BY  BRET  HARTE,  INCLUDING 
AN  INTRODUCTION  BY  WILLIAM 
DAI  .1. AM  ARMES,  THE  FRONTISPIECE 
IN  PHOTOGRAVURE  FROM  A  PAINTING 
BY  ALBERTINE  RANDALL  WHEELAN 


PAUL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY 
SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1907 

by  PAUL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY 

Copyright,  1899 

by  BRET  HARTE 

This  Edition  of 

TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

is  published  in  the   series  of  Western 

Classics  by  special  arrangement  with 

Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Company 

authorized  publishers  of 

Bret  Harte's 

works 


THE  INTRODUCTION    [i 

€J  When  Marshall's  discovery  caused 
a  sudden  influx  of  thousands  of  ad 
venturers  from  all  classes  and  almost 
all  countries,  the  conditions  of  govern 
ment  in  California  were  almost  the 
worst  possible.  Though  the  Mexican 
system  was  unpopular  and  the  Mexi 
can  law  practically  unknown,  until 
other  provision  was  made  by  congress, 
they  had  to  continue  in  force.  But 
the  free  and  slave  states  were  equal 
in  number;  California  would  turn 
the  scale;  there  was  a  battle  royal 
as  to  which  pan  should  descend, 
a  battle  that  the  congresses  of  1848 
and  1849  left  unsettled  on  adjourn 
ing.  €J  Under  these  circumstances,  it 


395586 


ii]    THE  INTRODUCTION 

might  be  supposed  that  the  worst 
elements  would  get  the  upper  hand, 
crime  become  common,  and  anarchy 
result.  Precisely  the  opposite  hap 
pened.  The  de  fadlo  government 
Was  accepted  as  a  necessity,  and 
under  its  direction  "alcaldes"  and 
"  ayuntamientos  "  were  elected.  But 
the  mining-camps,  which  were  in  a 
part  of  the  country  that  had  not 
been  settled  by  the  Mexicans  and 
Were  occupied  by  men  who  knew 
nothing  of  their  system  or  laws,  were 
left  to  work  out  their  own  salvation. 
The  preponderating  element  was  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  and  its  genius  for  law 
and  order  asserted  itself.  Each 


THE  INTRODUCTION  [iii 

camp  elected  its  own  officers,  recog 
nized  the  customary  laws  and  adopted 
special  ones,  and  punished  law- 
breafars.  Naturally  theft  Was  con 
sidered  a  more  serious  crime  than  it 
is  in  ordinary  communities.  As  there 
were  no  jails  or  jailors,  flogging  and 
expulsion  were  the  usual  punishment, 
but  in  aggravated  cases  it  Was  death. 
Even  after  the  state  government  had 
been  organized,  indeed,  the  law  for 
a  short  while  permitted  a  jury  to  pre 
scribe  the  death  penalty  for  grand 
larceny,  and,  infa£l,  several  notorious 
thieves  were  legally  executed.  €|  The 
testimony  of  all  observers  is  that  the 
camps  were  surprisingly  orderly,  that 


iv]  THE  INTRODUCTION 

crime  was  infrequent,  and  that  its 
punishment,  though  swift  and  cer 
tain,  leaned  to  mercy  rather  than 
rigor.  Bayard  Taylor,  for  example, 
who  was  in  the  mines  in  '50  and 
'51 ,  writes:  "In  a  region  five  hun 
dred  miles  long,  inhabited  by  a 
hundred  thousand  people,  who  had 
neither  locks,  bolts,  regular  laws  of 
government,  military  or  civil  protec 
tion,  there  Was  as  much  security  to 
life  and  property  as  in  any  state  of 
the  Union/  ^As  these  "miners' 
courts"  were  allowed  after  the  or 
ganization  of  the  state  to  retain 
jurisdi&ion  in  all  questions  that  con 
cerned  the  appropriation  of  claims, 


THE  INTRODUCTION   [v 

the  miners  but  slowly  appreciated 
that  they  had  been  shorn  of  their 
criminal  jurisdiction.  But  that  they 
did  come  to  recognize  that  "the  old 
order  changeth,  yielding  place  to 
new, "  is,  in  fa£t,  shown  by  the  very 
incident  on  which  Harte  based  his 
story  of  a  lynching.  €J  Spite  of  the 
autobiographic  method  that  leads  the 
casual  reader  to  think  that  Harte 
Was  intimately  conne&ed  with  this 
early  pioneer  life  and  derived  the 
material  for  his  sketches  from  per 
sonal  observation  and  experience,  his 
is,  in  truth,  only  hearsay  evidence. 
The  heroic  age  Was  with  Iram  and 
all  his  rose  ere  he  landed  in  1854, 


vi]  THE  INTRODUCTION 

a  lad  of  eighteen.  With  no  especial 
equipment  for  battling  with  the 
world,  he  had  to  turn  his  hand  to 
many  things,  and  naturally  tried 
mining.  But  finding  the  returns  in 
commensurate  with  the  labor,  he  soon 
gave  it  up  and  sought  more  con 
genial  occupations,  mainly  in  the 
towns  of  the  valleys  and  the  sea- 
coast.  Before  he  was  twenty-three, 
he  had  been  school-teacher,  express- 
messenger,  deputy  tax-colleEtor,  and 
druggist's  assistant;  and  had  risen 
from  "printer's  devil"  to  assistant 
editor  of  a  country  newspaper.  In 
1859  he  was  back  fa  $an  Francisco, 
utilizing  the  trade  he  had  picked 


THE  INTRODUCTION  [vii 

up,  as  a  compositor  on  The  Golden 
Era.  To  this  he  contributed  poems 
and  local  sketches  that  soon  led  to 
his  appointment  as  assistant  editor. 
His  writings  made  him  friends,  one 
of  whom,  Thomas  Starr  King,  in 
1864,  obtained  for  him  the  position 
of  secretary  to  the  superintendent  of 
the  Mint.  His  duties  Were  not  ar 
duous,  and  his  rooms  became  the 
resort  of  his  literary  associates  and 
of  men  from  "  the  diggings, "  whose 
mines,  life  the  meadows  of  Concord, 
yielded  a  two-fold  crop:  gold-dust 
for  the  superintendent  to  turn  into 
bullion,  and  stories  for  his  young  sec 
retary  later  to  turn  into  literature.  By 


viii]  THE  INTRODUCTION 

1868  his  reputation  was  so  great  that 
when  Mr.  A .  Roman  established  The 
Overland  Monthly,  he  was  made  its 
first  editor.  €JMr.  Roman  impressed 
upon  him  the  literary  possibilities  of 
the  life  of  the  miners,  and  furnished 
him  with  incidents,  tales,  and  pictures. 
'The  Luck  °f  Roaring  Camp/' 
his  first  venture  in  this  hitherto  al 
most  untouched  field,  proved  that 
Bret  Harte  had  come  into  his  own. 
His  local  sketches  and  Mexican 
legends  had  been  imitative  of  Irving, 
his  stories  of  Dickens;  but  for  this 
he  had  evolved  a  method  and  a  style 
distinctly  personal.  His  first  success 
was  followed  up  by  "  The  Outcasts 


THE  INTRODUCTION  [ix 

of  Poker  Flat"  and  (in  Odober, 
1869)  by  the  tale  here  reprinted; 
and  when,  in  1870,  an  Eastern 
house  published  his  sketches  in  book 
form,  his  fame  was  secure.  In  1871 
he  left  California,  and  after  a  few 
years  in  the  East  that  added  little  to 
his  reputation  as  a  writer,  or  as  a 
man,  secured  a  consulate  in  Germany. 
In  1878  he  left  America  forever. 
Till  his  death  in  1902  he  wrote  on, 
frequently  recurring  to  the  claim 
where  he  first  "got  the  color,"  but 
never  equaling  his  work  during  the 
year  and  a  half  that  he  was  editor 
of  the  Overland.  «J/n  7566  Harte 
heard,  from  one  who  had  been  pres- 


x]    THE  INTRODUCTION 

ent,  the  incident  that  inspired  "  Ten 
nessee's  Partner. ''  Eleven  years 
before,  at  Second  Garrote,  a  new 
comer  had  committed  a  capital  crime. 
The  miners  organized  a  court,  ap- 
pointed  counsel,  and  gave  the  mis 
creant  a  trial.  He  confessed  his 
guilt,  and  the  cry  arose,  "Hang 
him!"  But  "Old  Man  Chaffee' 
stepped  forward,  drew  a  bag  of  gold- 
dust  from  his  bosom,  and  said  that 
he  Would  give  his  "pile*  rather 
than  have  a  lynching  occur  in  a 
camp  that,  spite  its  name,  had  never 
been  so  disgraced.  He  begged  the 
crowd  to  turn  the  prisoner  over  to 
the  authorities  and  let  the  law 


THE  INTRODUCTION  [xi 

its  course.  Such  was  the  fervor  of 
his  appeal  and  so  great  Were  the  re- 
sped  and  affection  for  the  old  man 
that  his  proposal  Was  adopted  with 
a  cheer  for  the  advocate  of  law  and 
order,  and  the  culprit  taken  to  the 
jail  at  Columbia.  f^Chaffee's  part 
ner,  Chamberlain,  seems  to  have  had 
no  part  in  this  affair;  but  the  two 
Were  united  by  a  love  Iffye  that  of  his 
partner  for  Tennessee.  And  long 
after  the  Second  Garrote  had  become 
but  a  memory,  the  two  octogenarians 
lived  on  in  their  little  cabin,  Chaffee 
seeding  with  primitive  pick,  shovel, 
and  pan  the  more  and  more  elusive 
gold,  and  Chamberlain  contributing 


xii]  THE  INTRODUCTION 

to  the  common  purse  by  cultivating  a 
small  "ranch/  the  best  crop  of 
which  was  the  campers  who  came  to 
chat  of  bygone  days  with  "  the  origi 
nal  of  Tennessee's  Partner. "  At  last, 
in  1903,  their  partnership  of  fifty - 
four  years  was  ended  by  the  death 
of  Chaffee.  Within  eight  weeks  he 
was  followed  by  Chamberlain.  Their 
last  days  were  made  easy  by  the 
bounty  of  Professor  W.  E.  Magee, 
of  the  State  University,  to  whom  I 
am  indebted  for  the  authority  for 
some  of  these  statements, —  Cham 
berlain's  journal.  CJFrom  this  sim 
ple  material  the  imagination  of  Bret 
Harte  spun  the  characters,  incidents, 


THE  INTRODUCTION  [xiii 

and  motives  that  his  genius  wove  into 
an  exquisite  fabric,  an  idyl  of  blind, 
unreasoning  love  of  man  for  man. 
He  was  not  writing  history ;  and  the 
complaint  of  those  who  Were  part 
of  the  life  he  depi&ed,  that  he  mis 
stated  the  fa&s,  rests  on  the  same 
failure  to  appreciate  his  purpose  and 
method  that  leads  Eastern  and  Eng 
lish  critics  to  consider  his  realism 
reality  and  to  mistake  his  verisimili 
tude  for  the  truth  itself.  The  faCt 
is  that  Bret  Harte  was  a  consummate 
literary  artist,  who  used  fa&s  with 
all  an  artist's  freedom.  His  genius 
"  imbalm'd  and  treasur'd  up  on  pur 
pose  to  a  life  beyond  life, "  however, 


xiv]  THE  INTRODUCTION 

many  an  a5tual  incident  that  other 
wise  would  lie  buried  9neath  the 
poppy  that  the  iniquity  of  oblivion 
blindly  scattereth. 

WM.  DALLAM  ARMES. 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  1 

IJ I  do  not  think  that  we  ever  knew 
his  real  name.  Our  ignorance  of  it 
certainly  never  gave  us  any  social 
inconvenience,  for  at  Sandy  Bar  in 
1854  most  men  were  christened 
anew.  Sometimes  these  appella 
tives  were  derived  from  some  dis- 
tinc5tiveness  of  dress,  as  in  the  case 
of  "  Dungaree  Jack  ";  or  from  some 
peculiarity  of  habit,  as  shown  in 
"Saleratus  Bill,"  so  called  from  an 
undue  proportion  of  that  chemical 
in  his  daily  bread ;  or  from  some 
unlucky  slip,  as  exhibited  in  "The 
Iron  Pirate,"  a  mild,  inoffensive 
man,  who  earned  that  baleful  title 
by  his  unfortunate  mispronuncia- 


2  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

tion  of  the  term  "iron  pyrites.'* 
Perhaps  this  may  have  been  the 
beginning  of  a  rude  heraldry ;  but 
I  am  constrained  to  think  that  it 
was  because  a  man's  real  name 
in  that  day  rested  solely  upon  his 
own  unsupported  statement.  "Call 
yourself  Clifford,  do  you?"  said 
Boston,  addressing  a  timid  new 
comer  with  infinite  scorn ;  "  hell  is 
full  of  such  Cliffords!"  He  then 
introduced  the  unfortunate  man, 
whose  name  happened  to  be  really 
Clifford,  as  "Jaybird  Charley," — 
an  unhallowed  inspiration  of  the 
moment  that  clung  to  him  ever 
after.  tJBut  to  return  to  Tennes- 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [3 

see's  Partner,  whom  we  never 
knew  by  any  other  than  this  rela 
tive  title ;  that  he  had  ever  existed 
as  a  separate  and  distindt  indi 
viduality  we  only  learned  later.  It 
seems  that  in  1853  he  left  Poker 
Flat  to  go  to  San  Francisco,  osten 
sibly  to  procure  a  wife.  He  never 
got  any  farther  than  Stockton.  At 
that  place  he  was  attracted  by  a 
young  person  who  waited  upon 
the  table  at  the  hotel  where  he 
took  his  meals.  One  morning  he 
said  something  to  her  which  caused 
her  to  smile  not  unkindly,  to  some 
what  coquettishly  break  a  plate  of 
toast  over  his  upturned,  serious, 


4]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

simple  face,  and  to  retreat  to  the 
kitchen.  He  followed  her,  and 
emerged  a  few  moments  later, 
covered  with  more  toast  and  vic 
tory.  That  day  week  they  were 
married  by  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  returned  to  Poker  Flat.  I  am 
aware  that  something  more  might 
be  made  of  this  episode,  but  I 
prefer  to  tell  it  as  it  was  current 
at  Sandy  Bar, — in  the  gulches  and 
barrooms, — where  all  sentiment 
was  modified  by  a  strong  sense  of 
humor,  ^f  Of  their  married  felicity 
but  little  is  known,  perhaps  for 
the  reason  that  Tennessee,  then 
living  with  his  partner,  one  day 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  5 

took  occasion  to  say  something  to 
the  bride  on  his  own  account,  at 
which,  it  is  said,  she  smiled  not 
unkindly,  and  chastely  retreated, — 
this  time  as  far  as  Marysville, 
where  Tennessee  followed  her, 
and  where  they  went  to  house 
keeping  without  the  aid  of  a  Jus 
tice  of  the  Peace.  Tennessee's 
Partner  took  the  loss  of  his  wife 
simply  and  seriously,  as  "was  his 
fashion.  But  to  everybody's  sur 
prise,  when  Tennessee  one  day 
returned  from  Marysville,  without 
his  partner's  wife, — she  having 
smiled  and  retreated  with  some 
body  else, — Tennessee's  Partner 


6]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

was  the  first  man  to  shake  his 
hand  and  greet  him  with  affecftion. 
The  boys  who  had  gathered  in 
the  canon  to  see  the  shooting  were 
naturally  indignant.  Their  indig 
nation  might  have  found  vent  in 
sarcasm  but  for  a  certain  look  in 
Tennessee's  Partner's  eye  that  in 
dicated  a  lack  of  humorous  appre 
ciation.  In  fadl,  he  was  a  grave 
man,  with  a  steady  application  to 
pradical  detail  which  was  unpleas 
ant  in  a  difficulty,  tj  Meanwhile  a 
popular  feeling  against  Tennessee 
had  grown  up  on  the  Bar.  He 
was  known  to  be  a  gambler;  he 
was  suspedted  to  be  a  thief.  In 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  7 

these  suspicions  Tennessee's  Part 
ner  was  equally  compromised ;  his 
continued  intimacy  with  Tennes 
see  after  the  affair  above  quoted 
could  only  be  accounted  for  on  the 
hypothesis  of  a  copartnership  of 
crime.  At  last  Tennessee's  guilt 
became  flagrant.  One  day  he 
overtook  a  stranger  on  his  way  to 
Red  Dog.  The  stranger  afterward 
related  that  Tennessee  beguiled 
the  time  with  interesting  anecdote 
and  reminiscence,  but  illogically 
concluded  the  interview  in  the  fol 
lowing  wordsj  "And  now,  young 
man,  I'll  trouble  you  for  your 
knife,your  pistols,  and  your  money. 


8]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

You  see  your  weppings  might  get 
you  into  trouble  at  Red  Dog,  and 
your  money's  a  temptation  to  the 
evilly  disposed.  I  think  you  said 
your  address  was  San  Francisco. 
I  shall  endeavor  to  call."  It  may  be 
stated  here  that  Tennessee  had  a 
fine  flow  of  humor,  which  no  busi 
ness  preoccupation  could  wholly 
subdue.  <JThis  exploit  was  his 
last.  Red  Dog  and  Sandy  Bar 
made  common  cause  against 
the  highwayman.  Tennessee  was 
hunted  in  very  much  the  same 
fashion  as  his  prototype,  the 
grizzly.  As  the  toils  closed  around 
him,  he  made  a  desperate  dash 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  9 

through  the  Bar,  emptying  his  re 
volver  at  the  crowd  before  the 
Arcade  Saloon,  and  so  on  up 
Grizzly  Canon;  but  at  its  farther 
extremity  he  was  stopped  by  a 
small  man  on  a  gray  horse.  The 
men  looked  at  each  other  a  mo 
ment  in  silence.  Both  were  fear 
less,  both  self-possessed  and  inde 
pendent,  and  both  types  of  a 
civilization  that  in  the  seventeenth 
century  would  have  been  called 
heroic,  but  in  the  nineteenth  sim 
ply  "reckless."  'What  have  you 
got  there? — I  call,"  said  Tennes 
see,  quietly.  'Two  bowers  and 
an  ace,"  said  the  stranger,  as 


1 0  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

quietly,  showing  two  revolvers  and 
a  bowie-knife.  'That  takes  me," 
returned  Tennessee ;  and,  with  this 
gambler's  epigram,  he  threw  away 
his  useless  pistol,  and  rode  back 
with  his  captor.  <JIt  was  a  warm 
night.  The  cool  breeze  which 
usually  sprang  up  with  the  going 
down  of  the  sun  behind  the 
chaparral-crested  mountain  was 
that  evening  withheld  from  Sandy 
Bar.  The  little  canon  was  stifling 
with  heated  resinous  odors,  and 
the  decaying  driftwood  on  the 
Bar  sent  forth  faint,  sickening  ex 
halations.  The  feverishness  of  day 
and  its  fierce  passions  still  filled 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  1 1 

the  camp.  Lights  moved  restlessly 
along  the  bank  of  the  river,  strik 
ing  no  answering  reflection  from 
its  tawny  current.  Against  the 
blackness  of  the  pines  the  win 
dows  of  the  old  loft  above  the 
express-office  stood  out  staringly 
bright;  and  through  their  curtain- 
less  panes,  the  loungers  below 
could  see  the  forms  of  those  who 
were  even  then  deciding  the  fate 
of  Tennessee.  And  above  all  this, 
etched  on  the  dark  firmament, 
rose  the  Sierra,  remote  and  pas 
sionless,  crowned  with  remoter 
passionless  stars.  <|The  trial  of 
Tennessee  was  conducted  as  fairly 


12]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

as  was  consistent  with  a  judge  and 
jury  who  felt  themselves  to  some 
extent  obliged  to  justify,  in  their 
verdidt,  the  previous  irregularities 
of  arrest  and  indidlment.  The  law 
of  Sandy  Bar  was  implacable,  but 
not  vengeful.  The  excitement  and 
personal  feeling  of  the  chase  were 
over;  with  Tennessee  safe  in  their 
hands  they  were  ready  to  listen 
patiently  to  any  defense,  which 
they  were  already  satisfied  was 
insufficient.  There  being  no  doubt 
in  their  own  minds,  they  were 
willing  to  give  the  prisoner  the 
benefit  of  any  that  might  exist. 
Secure  in  the  hypothesis  that  he 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  1 3 

ought  to  be  hanged,  on  general 
principles,  they  indulged  him  with 
more  latitude  of  defense  than  his 
reckless  hardihood  seemed  to  ask. 
The  Judge  appeared  to  be  more 
anxious  than  the  prisoner,  who, 
otherwise  unconcerned,  evidently 
took  a  grim  pleasure  in  the  re 
sponsibility  he  had  created.  "1 
don't  take  any  hand  in  this  yer 
game,"  had  been  his  invariable 
but  good-humored  reply  to  all 
questions.  The  Judge — who  was 
also  his  captor — for  a  moment 
vaguely  regretted  that  he  had  not 
shot  him  "  on  sight,"  that  morning, 
but  presently  dismissed  this  human 


14]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

weakness  as  unworthy  of  the 
judicial  mind.  Nevertheless,  when 
there  was  a  tap  at  the  door,  and 
it  was  said  that  Tennessee's  Part 
ner  was  there  on  behalf  of  the 
prisoner,  he  was  admitted  at  once 
without  question.  Perhaps  the 
younger  members  of  the  jury, 
to  whom  the  proceedings  were 
becoming  irksomely  thoughtful, 
hailed  him  as  a  relief.  ^|For  he 
was  not,  certainly,  an  imposing 
figure.  Short  and  stout,  with  a 
square  face,  sunburned  into  a 
preternatural  redness,  clad  in  a 
loose  duck"  jumper"  and  trousers 
streaked  and  splashed  with  red 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  1 5 

soil,  his  aspedt  under  any  circum 
stances  would  have  been  quaint, 
and  was  now  even  ridiculous. 
As  he  stooped  to  deposit  at  his 
feet  a  heavy  carpet-bag  he  was 
carrying,  it  became  obvious,  from 
partially  developed  legends  and 
inscriptions,  that  the  material  with 
which  his  trousers  had  been 
patched  had  been  originally  in 
tended  for  a  less  ambitious  cover 
ing.  Yet  he  advanced  with  great 
gravity,  and  after  shaking  the 
hand  of  each  person  in  the  room 
with  labored  cordiality,  he  wiped 
his  serious,  perplexed  face  on  a 
red  bandanna  handkerchief,  a 


16]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

shade  lighter  than  his  complexion, 
laid  his  powerful  hand  upon  the 
table  to  steady  himself,  and  thus 
addressed  the  Judge:  —  "I  was 
passin'  by,"  he  began,  by  way  of 
apology,  "  and  I  thought  I'd  just 
step  in  and  see  how  things  was 
gittin'  on  with  Tennessee  thar, — 
my  pardner.  It's  a  hot  night.  I 
disremember  any  sich  weather 
before  on  the  Bar."  flHe  paused 
a  moment,  but  nobody  volunteer 
ing  any  other  meteorological  recol- 
ledtion,  he  again  had  recourse  to 
his  pocket-handkerchief,  and  for 
some  moments  mopped  his  face 
diligently.  €J  "  Have  you  anything 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  1 7 

to  say  on  behalf  of  the  prisoner?" 
said  the  Judge,  finally.  €J  "  Thet  's 
it,"  said  Tennessee's  Partner,  in 
a  tone  of  relief.  "I  come  yar 
as  Tennessee's  pardner, — knowing 
him  nigh  on  four  year,  off  and  on, 
wet  and  dry,  in  luck  and  out  o* 
luck.  His  ways  ain't  allers  my 
ways,  but  thar  ain't  any  p'ints  in 
that  young  man,  thar  ain't  any 
liveliness  as  he's  been  up  to,  as  I 
don't  know.  And  you  sez  to  me, 
sez  you, —  confidential-like,  and  be 
tween  man  and  man, — sez  you, 
'  Do  you  know  anything  in  his  be 
half?'  and  I  sez  to  you,  sez  I, — 
confidential-like,  as  between  man 


18]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

and  man, — 'What  should  a  man 
know  of  his  pardner  ? ' ' '  <][ "  Is  this 
all  you  have  to  say?"  asked  the 
Judge  impatiently,  feeling,  per 
haps,  that  a  dangerous  sympathy 
of  humor  was  beginning  to  hu 
manize  the  court.  <J"Thet's  so," 
continued  Tennessee's  Partner.  "It 
ain't  for  me  to  say  anything  agin' 
him.  And  now,  what's  the  case? 
Here's  Tennessee  wants  money, 
wants  it  bad,  and  doesn't  like  to 
ask  it  of  his  old  pardner.  Well, 
what  does  Tennessee  do  ?  He  lays 
for  a  stranger,  and  he  fetches  that 
stranger;  and  you  lays  for  him, 
and  you  fetches  him;  and  the 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  19 

honors  is  easy.  And  I  put  it  to 
you,  bein'  a  far-minded  man,  and 
to  you,  gentlemen  all,  as  far-minded 
men,  ef  this  isn't  so."  <[[" Pris 
oner,"  said  the  Judge,  interrupt 
ing,  "have  you  any  questions  to 
ask  this  man  ?  "  fj  "  No !  no  ! "  con 
tinued  Tennessee's  Partner  hastily. 
"I  play  this  yer  hand  alone.  To 
come  down  to  the  bed-rock,  it's 
just  this:  Tennessee,  thar,  has 
played  it  pretty  rough  and  expen- 
sive-like  on  a  stranger,  and  on  this 
yer  camp.  And  now,  what's  the 
fair  thing  ?  Some  would  say  more ; 
some  would  say  less.  Here's  sev 
enteen  hundred  dollars  in  coarse 


20  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

gold  and  a  watch, — it's  about  all 
my  pile, — and  call  it  square!" 
And  before  a  hand  could  be  raised 
to  prevent  him,  he  had  emptied 
the  contents  of  the  carpet-bag  upon 
the  table.  ^[For  a  moment  his  life 
was  in  jeopardy.  One  or  two  men 
sprang  to  their  feet,  several  hands 
groped  for  hidden  weapons,  and  a 
suggestion  to  "  throw  him  from  the 
window,"  was  only  overridden  by 
a  gesture  from  the  Judge.  Ten 
nessee  laughed.  And  apparently 
oblivious  of  the  excitement,Tennes- 
see's  Partner  improved  the  oppor 
tunity  to  mop  his  face  again  with 
his  handkerchief.  <JWhen  order 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [21 

was  restored,  and  the  man  was 
made  to  understand,  by  the  use  of 
forcible  figures  and  rhetoric,  that 
Tennessee's  offense  could  not  be 
condoned  by  money,  his  face  took 
a  more  serious  and  sanguinary 
hue,  and  those  who  were  nearest 
to  him  noticed  that  his  rough  hand 
trembled  slightly  on  the  table.  He 
hesitated  a  moment  as  he  slowly 
returned  the  gold  to  the  carpet 
bag,  as  if  he  had  not  yet  entirely 
caught  the  elevated  sense  of  justice 
which  swayed  the  tribunal,  and 
was  perplexed  with  the  belief  that 
he  had  not  offered  enough.  Then 
he  turned  to  the  Judge,  and  say- 


22  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

ing,  "This  yer  is  a  lone  hand, 
played  alone,  and  without  my 
pardner,"  he  bowed  to  the  jury 
and  was  about  to  withdraw,  when 
the  Judge  called  him  back.  "If 
you  have  anything  to  say  to  Ten 
nessee,  you  had  better  say  it  now." 
For  the  first  time  that  evening  the 
eyes  of  the  prisoner  and  his  strange 
advocate  met.  Tennessee  smiled, 
showed  his  white  teeth,  and  say 
ing,  "Euchred,  old  man!"  held 
out  his  hand.  Tennessee's  Partner 
took  it  in  his  own,  and  saying,  "  I 
just  dropped  in  as  I  was  passin'  to 
see  how  things  was  gettin'  on," 
let  the  hand  passively  fall,  and 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  23 

adding  that "  it  was  a  warm  night," 
again  mopped  his  face  with  his 
handkerchief,  and  without  another 
word  withdrew.  €JThe  two  men 
never  again  met  each  other  alive. 
For  the  unparalleled  insult  of  a 
bribe  offered  to  Judge  Lynch — 
who,  whether  bigoted,  weak,  or 
narrow,  was  at  least  incorrupti 
ble — firmly  fixed  in  the  mind  of 
that  mythical  personage  any  wav 
ering  determination  of  Tennessee's 
fate;  and  at  the  break  of  day  he 
was  marched,  closely  guarded,  to 
meet  it  at  the  top  of  Marley's  Hill. 
fJHow  he  met  it,  how  cool  he 
was,  how  he  refused  to  say  any- 


24]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

thing,  how  perfedt  were  the  ar 
rangements  of  the  committee,  were 
all  duly  reported,  with  the  addition 
of  a  warning  moral  and  example 
to  all  future  evil-doers,  in  the  Red 
Dog  Clarion,  by  its  editor,  who 
was  present,  and  to  whose  vigor 
ous  English  I  cheerfully  refer  the 
reader.  But  the  beauty  of  that 
midsummer  morning,  the  blessed 
amity  of  earth  and  air  and  sky, 
the  awakened  life  of  the  free 
woods  and  hills,  the  joyous  re 
newal  and  promise  of  Nature,  and, 
above  all,  the  infinite  serenity  that 
thrilled  through  each,  was  not  re 
ported,  as  not  being  a  part  of  the 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  25 

social  lesson.  And  yet,  when  the 
weak  and  foolish  deed  was  done, 
and  a  life,  with  its  possibilities  and 
responsibilities,  had  passed  out  of 
the  misshapen  thing  that  dangled 
between  earth  and  sky,  the  birds 
sang,  the  flowers  bloomed,  the  sun 
shone,  as  cheerily  as  before;  and 
possibly  the  Red  Dog  Clarion  was 
right.  <J  Tennessee's  Partner  was 
not  in  the  group  that  surrounded 
the  ominous  tree.  But  as  they 
turned  to  disperse,  attention  was 
drawn  to  the  singular  appearance 
of  a  motionless  donkey-cart  halted 
at  the  side  of  the  road.  As  they 
approached,  they  at  once  recog- 


26  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

nized  the  venerable  Jenny  and  the 
two-wheeled  cart  as  the  property 
of  Tennessee's  Partner, — used  by 
him  in  carrying  dirt  from  his  claim ; 
and  a  few  paces  distant,  the  owner 
of  the  equipage  himself,  sitting 
under  a  buckeye  tree,  wiping  the 
perspiration  from  his  glowing  face. 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry,  he  said 
he  had  come  for  the  body  of  the 
"  diseased,"  "  if  it  was  all  the  same 
to  the  committee."  He  did  n't  wish 
to  "hurry  anything";  he  could 
wait.  He  was  not  working  that 
day;  and  when  the  gentlemen 
were  done  with  the  "diseased" 
he  would  take  him.  "Ef  thar  is 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [27 

any  present,"  he  added,  in  his 
simple,  serious  way,  "as  would 
care  to  jine  in  the  fun'l,  they  kin 
come."  Perhaps  it  was  from  a 
sense  of  humor,  which  I  have  al 
ready  intimated  was  a  feature  of 
Sandy  Bar, — perhaps  it  was  from 
something  even  better  than  that; 
but  two-thirds  of  the  loungers  ac 
cepted  the  invitation  at  once.  €|  It 
was  noon  when  the  body  of  Ten 
nessee  was  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  his  partner.  As  the  cart 
drew  up  to  the  fatal  tree,  we 
noticed  that  it  contained  a  rough 
oblong  box, — apparently  made 
from  a  sedtion  of  sluicing, — and 


28]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

half  filled  with  bark  and  the  tas 
sels  of  pine.  The  cart  was  further 
decorated  with  slips  of  willow, 
and  made  fragrant  with  buckeye- 
blossoms.  When  the  body  was 
deposited  in  the  box,  Tennessee's 
Partner  drew  over  it  a  piece  of 
tarred  canvas,  and  gravely  mount 
ing  the  narrow  seat  in  front,  with 
his  feet  upon  the  shafts,  urged  the 
little  donkey  forward.  The  equi 
page  moved  slowly  on,  at  that  de 
corous  pace  which  was  habitual 
with  Jenny  even  under  less  solemn 
circumstances.  The  men — half 
curiously,  have  jestingly,  but  all 
good-humoredly — strolled  along 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [  29 

beside  the  cart ;  some  in  advance, 
some  a  little  in  the  rear,  of  the 
homely  catafalque.  But,  whether 
from  the  narrowing  of  the  road  or 
some  present  sense  of  decorum, 
as  the  cart  passed  on,  the  company 
fell  to  the  rear  in  couples,  keeping 
step,  and  otherwise  assuming  the 
external  show  of  a  formal  proces 
sion.  Jack  Folinsbee,  who  had  at 
the  outset  played  a  funeral  march 
in  dumb  show  upon  an  imaginary 
trombone,  desisted,  from  a  lack  of 
sympathy  and  appreciation, — not 
having,  perhaps,  your  true  humor 
ist's  capacity  to  be  content  with 
the  enjoyment  of  his  own  fun. 


30]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

<JThe  way  led  through  Grizzly 
Canon,  by  this  time  clothed  in  fu 
nereal  drapery  and  shadows.  The 
redwoods,  burying  their  mocca- 
sined  feet  in  the  red  soil,  stood  in 
Indian-file  along  the  track,  trailing 
an  uncouth  benedidion  from  their 
bending  boughs  upon  the  passing 
bier.  A  hare,  surprised  into  help 
less  inadtivity,  sat  upright  and  pul 
sating  in  the  ferns  by  the  roadside, 
as  the  cortege  went  by.  Squirrels 
hastened  to  gain  a  secure  outlook 
from  higher  boughs ;  and  the  blue- 
jays,  spreading  their  wings,  flut 
tered  before  them  like  outriders, 
until  the  outskirts  of  Sandy  Bar 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [31 

were  reached,  and  the  solitary 
cabin  of  Tennessee's  Partner. 
<I  Viewed  under  more  favorable 
circumstances,  it  would  not  have 
been  a  cheerful  place.  The  un- 
pidturesque  site,  the  rude  and 
unlovely  outlines,  the  unsavory 
details,  which  distinguish  the  nest- 
building  of  the  California  miner, 
were  all  here,  with  the  dreariness 
of  decay  superadded.  A  few  paces 
from  the  cabin  there  was  a  rough 
enclosure,  which,  in  the  brief  days 
of  Tennessee's  Partner's  matri 
monial  felicity,  had  been  used  as 
a  garden,  but  was  now  overgrown 
with  fern.  As  we  approached  it 


32  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

we  were  surprised  to  find  that 
what  we  had  taken  for  a  recent 
attempt  at  cultivation  was  the 
broken  soil  about  an  open  grave. 
tJThe  cart  was  halted  before  the 
enclosure;  and  rejecting  the  offers 
of  assistance  with  the  same  air  of 
simple  self-reliance  he  had  dis 
played  throughout,  Tennessee's 
Partner  lifted  the  rough  coffin  on 
his  back,  and  deposited  it,  unaided, 
within  the  shallow  grave.  He  then 
nailed  down  the  board  which 
served  as  a  lid,  and,  mounting  the 
little  mound  of  earth  beside  it, 
took  off  his  hat,  and  slowly 
mopped  his  face  with  his  hand- 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [33 

kerchief.  This  the  crowd  felt  was 
a  preliminary  to  speech ;  and  they 
disposed  themselves  variously  on 
stumps  and  boulders,  and  sat  ex- 
pedtant.  <J  "  When  a  man,"  began 
Tennessee's  Partner  slowly,  "has 
been  running  free  all  day,  what's 
the  natural  thing  for  him  to  do? 
Why,  to  come  home.  And  if  he 
ain't  in  a  condition  to  go  home, 
what  can  his  best  friend  do?  Why, 
bring  him  home !  And  here's  Ten 
nessee  has  been  running  free,  and 
we  brings  him  home  from  his 
wandering."  He  paused,  and 
picked  up  a  fragment  of  quartz, 
rubbed  it  thoughtfully  on  his 


34  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

sleeve,  and  went  on :  "  It  ain't  the 
first  time  that  I've  packed  him  on 
my  back,  as  you  see'd  me  now. 
It  ain't  the  first  time  that  I  brought 
him  to  this  yer  cabin  when  he 
couldn't  help  himself;  it  ain't  the 
first  time  that  I  and  Jinny  have 
waited  for  him  on  yon  hill,  and 
picked  him  up  and  so  fetched  him 
home,  when  he  couldn't  speak, 
and  didn't  know  me.  And  now 
that  it's  the  last  time,  why" — he 
paused,  and  rubbed  the  quartz 
gently  on  his  sleeve — "you  see 
it 's  sort  of  rough  on  his  pardner. 
And  now,  gentlemen,"  he  added 
abruptly,  picking  up  his  long- 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [35 

handled  shovel,  "the  fun'l  's  over; 
and  my  thanks,  and  Tennessee's 
thanks,  to  you  for  your  trouble." 
^[Resisting  any  proffers  of  assist 
ance,  he  began  to  fill  in  the  grave, 
turning  his  back  upon  the  crowd, 
that,  after  a  few  moments'  hesita 
tion,  gradually  withdrew.  As  they 
crossed  the  little  ridge  that  hid 
Sandy  Bar  from  view,  some,  look 
ing  back,  thought  they  could  see 
Tennessee's  Partner,  his  work 
done,  sitting  upon  the  grave,  his 
shovel  between  his  knees,  and  his 
face  buried  in  his  red  bandanna 
handkerchief.  But  it  was  argued 
by  others  that  you  could  n't  tell  his 


36]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

face  from  his  handkerchief  at  that 
distance ;  and  this  point  remained 
undecided,  ^f  In  the  reaction  that 
followed  the  feverish  excitement 
of  that  day,  Tennessee's  Partner 
was  not  forgotten.  A  secret  inves 
tigation  had  cleared  him  of  any 
complicity  in  Tennessee's  guilt, 
and  left  only  a  suspicion  of  his 
general  sanity.  Sandy  Bar  made 
a  point  of  calling  on  him,  and 
proffering  various  uncouth  but 
well-meant  kindnesses.  But  from 
that  day  his  rude  health  and  great 
strength  seemed  visibly  to  decline; 
and  when  the  rainy  season  fairly 
set  in,  and  the  tiny  grass-blades 


TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER  [37 

were  beginning  to  peep  from  the 
rocky  mound  above  Tennessee's 
grave,  he  took  to  his  bed.  €J  One 
night,  when  the  pines  beside  the 
cabin  were  swaying  in  the  storm, 
and  trailing  their  slender  fingers 
over  the  roof,  and  the  roar  and 
rush  of  the  swollen  river  were 
heard  below,  Tennessee's  Partner 
lifted  his  head  from  the  pillow, 
saying,  "It  is  time  to  go  for  Ten 
nessee;  I  must  put  Jinny  in  the 
cart;"  and  would  have  risen  from 
his  bed  but  for  the  restraint  of  his 
attendant.  Struggling,  he  still  pur 
sued  his  singular  fancy:  " There, 
now,  steady,  Jinny, — steady,  old 


38  ]  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 

girl.  How  dark  it  is!  Look  out 
for  the  ruts, — and  look  out  for 
him,  too,  old  gal.  Sometimes,  you 
know,  when  he's  blind  drunk,  he 
drops  down  right  in  the  trail. 
Keep  on  straight  up  to  the  pine 
on  the  top  of  the  hill.  Thar!  I 
told  you  so! — thar  he  is, — com 
ing  this  way,  too, — all  by  himself, 
sober,  and  his  face  a-shining.  Ten 
nessee!  Pardner!"  €|  And  so  they 
met. 


HERE  ENDS  N9  THREE  OF  THE  WESTERN 
CLASSICS.  BEING  TENNESSEE'S  PARTNER 
BY  BRET  HARTE,  THE  INTRODUCTION  BY 
WILLIAM  DALLAMARMES.  THE  PHOTO- 
GRAVURE  FRONTISPIECE  BY  ALBERTINE 
RANDALL  WHEELAN.  OF  THIS  FIRST 
EDITION  ONE  THOUSAND  COPIES  HAVE 
BEEN  ISSUED,  PRINTED  UPON  FABRIANO 
HANDMADE  PAPER.  THE  TYPOGRAPHY 
DESIGNED  BY  J.  H.  NASH.  PUBLISHED 
BY  PAUL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY,  AND 
DONE  INTO  A  BOOK  FOR  THEM  AT  THE 
TOMOYE  PRESS,  NEW  YORK  CITY.  IN  THE 
YEAR  NINETEEN  HUNDRED  AND  SEVEN 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL    FINE     OF     25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


DEC 


1932 


$&   IB  1933 
AUG    29  1934 

18  1935 


MAY   8  1S42E 
AUG  12  1942 

I70ec'« 


FEB  1 1 1955  LU 


25Nov'64LM 
rtEC'D  LD 


10/9S535 

REC'D 


•     LD  21-50m-63i 


395586 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


